A housing activist has called for an independent Board of Inquiry to investigate the shortage of affordable housing in Bermuda.

Terrence Flood ? who chaired the Island?s first low-cost prefab housing association in 1985 ? said the Inquiry should also investigate the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC).

?I feel an Inquiry is needed,? he said. ?This Island is supposed to be so prosperous but you?ve got people living in caves and cars and trees. It?s totally unacceptable.?

He said the ?dirt would come out? after an inquiry was finished.

?It can?t be PLP and it can?t be UBP,? he said. ?It must be impartial.?

In addition, a Bermuda Housing Task Force ? made up of groups who help those affected by the affordable housing shortage, including the Salvation Army, the National Drug Commission, the Coalition for the Protection of Children, the Prison Service and seniors groups ? should be re-implemented, he said.

?Affordable housing is not just affecting young people or families, it affects everybody,? Mr. Flood said.

?There are too many condos going up around the country but they are not affordable.

Prostitution, drugs and crime are by-products of an affordable housing shortage, he said.

?A kid will do whatever he can to keep a roof over his mother?s head,? he said.

?Not a day goes by without someone calling me saying they need a house. It?s bad out here. Someone needs to do something for the people of this country. I am fighting for housing in Bermuda.?

Mr. Flood said arrears in rent should not be used as an excuse for BHC to evict families.

?Many tenants at BHC are in arrears. That is why they have social workers there to work with people.

?They are getting away from what BHC was really designed for,? he said.

?The Minister seems to be getting frustrated, but he forgets BHC was set up in the 70s to assist people who needed affordable housing, not to throw people out in the rain.?

The Island has quite a few areas where affordable housing could be erected, he said.

A housing crisis has been around since the 1960s, he said, however, in the 1970s housing complexes like Mary Victoria Road, Cedar Park and Barrack?s Hill were brought in duty-free.

?Government has a responsibility to get these people homes,? he said.